Many beekeepers, especially beginning beekeepers, like to watch their worker bees--they call them "my girls"--come home. They're loaded with pollen this time of year. Depending on the floral source, it may be yellow, red, white, blue, red or colors in between.

They're bringing in food for the colony: pollen and nectar. They also collect water and propolis (plant resin). This is a matriarchal society where females do all the work in the hive. The worker bees--aptly named--serve as nurse maids, nannies, royal attendants, builders, architects, foragers, dancers, honey tenders, pollen packers, propolis or "glue specialists," air conditioning and/or heating technicians, guards and undertakers.

The glassed-in bee observation hive is indeed a popular and educational attraction to watch the queen lay eggs (she'll lay about 2000 eggs a day during peak season), the comb construction, honey production, pollen storage and all the other activities. The sisters feed the colony, including the queen and their brothers (drones). A drone's responsibility is solely reproduction, and that takes place in mid-air when a virgin queen takes her maiden flight. After mating, he dies. Done. That's it.

Meanwhile, life continues inside the hive.

Honey bees making a "bee line" for their home. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bees making a "bee line" for their home. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's nice to remember the honey bee on Valentine's Day. You'll see many Valentine cards inscribed with "Bee My Valentine" and featuring a photo of a bee.

Many of those photos depict a queen bee, the mother of all bees in the hive.

To be a queen, she'll need to be fed royal jelly as a larva. The nurses bees feed the otther larvae a regular worker diet that includes pollen.

"Queen larvae are fed royal jelly throughout larval development, providing a nutritional stimulus that causes them to develop into fully functional females with large ovaries," writes apiculturist Norman Gary, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, in his book, Honey Bee Hobbyist: The Care and Keeping of Bees.

"Queens develop from egg to adult in about 16 days," Gary writes. A queen usually lives about two to three years, but most beekeepers re-queen the colony after a year.

In peak season, a queen bee will lay about 2000 eggs--so that's 2000 mouths to feed.

"A few queens live for as long as two or three years, but old queens are a liability to the colony due to diminished egg-laying capacity, a principal cause of reduced colony populations and reduced honey production," Gary says. "Their performance usually diminishes long before they die, similar to humans."

Gary also says in his book that egg-laying capability "is not the only measure of a queen's performance. Queens produce pheromones that greatly affect the activities, especially foraging activity of workers. Pheromone production diminishes in quality and quantity as queens age."

That's something that the Valentine Day cards don't tell you. Neither do they tell you that after a swarm, the first virgin queen to emerge from the series of newly constructed queen cells in the colony will sting her competitors so she can take over the hive.

Or, as Gary writes, "Rival queens engage in fierce stinging attacks until only one virgin queen remains. Virgin queens also initiate the destruction of capped queen cells containing their younger counterparts and sting them before they can complete development. This is the only time queens ever use their stingers."

Back in 2010, Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and yours truly came up with a song about "The 13 Bugs of Christmas." Presented at the Department of Entomology's holiday party, it drew roaring applause. Then U.S. News featured it when reporter Paul Bedard picked it up.

It's still making the rounds, via tweets.

"The 13 Bugs of Christmas" is about a psyllid in a pear tree, six lice a'laying, 10 locusts leaping and 11 queen bees piping. Beekeepers know that distinctive sound of a queen bee piping.

"We attempted to keep the wording as close as possible for ‘The 12 Bugs of Christmas' and then we opted to spotlight some new agricultural pests in the next stanza," said Mussen, an Extension apiculturist and member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty since 1976.

The song:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a psyllid in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, two tortoises beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, three French flies, two tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, four calling cicadas, three French flies, two tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me five golden bees, four calling cicadas, three French flies, two tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me six lice a'laying, five golden bees, four calling cicadas, three French flies, two tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me seven boatmen swimming, six lice a'laying, five golden bees, four calling cicadas, three French flies, two tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me eight ants a'milking, seven boatmen swimming, six lice a'laying, five golden bees, four calling cicadas, three French flies, two tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me nine mayflies dancing, eight ants a'milking, seven boatmen swimming, six lice a'laying, five golden bees, four calling cicadas, three French flies, two tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 10 locusts leaping, nine mayflies dancing, eight ants a'milking, seven boatmen swimming, six lice a'laying, five golden bees, four calling cicadas, three French flies, two tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree

On the 11th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 11 queen bees piping, 10 locusts leaping, nine mayflies dancing, eight ants a'milking, seven boatmen swimming, six lice a'laying, five golden bees, four calling cicadas, three French flies, two tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree

Mussen, who led the department in song at the 2010 holiday party (he also sings "doo-wopp" with a local chorus), noted that "Tropilaelaps clareae" is a honey bee mite from Asia.

Another Asian mite, the Varroa mite, (Varroa destructor), was first identified here in the United States (Wisconsin) in 1987 and is now the beekeepers' No. 1 problem, said Mussen, who writes the bimonthly from the UC apiaries newsletter.

It's good to see that American Honey Bee Queen Teresa Bryson, 19, of Chambersburg, Pa., will be spreading the word about beekeeping and honey at the California State Fair, 1600 Exposition Blvd. Sacramento. The fair opened July 14 and continues through July 31.

It's a crucial time for bees, which are the victims of the mysterious colony collapse disorder, probably closely linked with a multitude of issues, including viruses, parasites, pests, pesticides, diseases, stress and malnutrition.

She also will be working in the insect pavilion at “The Farm,” which includes an observation hive. Bryson will answer questions from the public on Saturday, July 16 from 2 to 3 p.m. and on Wednesday, July 20 from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m.

In addition, she’ll be speaking at the Sacramento Area Beekeepers’ Association meeting set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 19 at 4049 Marconi Ave., Sacramento. The site is located in the second module behind the Town and Country Lutheran Church.

The American Honey Bee Queen competition is sponsored by the American Beekeeping Federation.

“As the American Honey Bee Queen, I travel across the United states promoting beekeeping and the use of honey,” she said. She educates the public with “facts on the beekeeping and honey industry concerning pollination of our nation’s crops and how dependent we are on the honey bee for agriculture, how honey is a healthy substitute for sugar, and how honey also extends the shelf life of baked products and adds that extra special something, such as taste or texture to other products.”

Bryson’s year as American Honey Queen ends in January when she will crown the next queen at the American Beekeeping Federation’s annual conference in Las Vegas.

Bryson is a junior at Hagerstown Community College, Hagerstown, Md., where she is double-majoring in English and forensic science. She is a member of the National Honor Society and has been on the dean’s list for the last two years.

A 4-H member for 10 years, she serves as a leader for two clubs. Bryson has kept bees for three years, and manages five hives in her family's apiary. In her leisure time, she said she enjoys reading, sewing, and caring for the many animals on her family's small farm.

The number of new housing developments throughout the country continues to shrink as we struggle with the throes of a deep recession.

That's with human housing, not in a healthy honey bee hive.

The bees are busy building up their colonies, just as they do every spring. Spring officially begins Saturday, March 21, but don't tell that to the bees.

Their rapid build-up is in full swing (unless the colony is suffering from colony collapse disorder and other ailments).

The queen bee is laying eggs, the worker bees (sterile females) are tending the hive and foraging, and the drones (males) are flying out in mid-afternoon to try to mate with a virgin queen.

Watch closely inside the hive and you'll see the queen bee poke her head inside a cell that the worker bees have prepared for her. "The queen bee examines every cell before she lays an egg in it," says Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty. The workers decide if the colony needs more workers, drones or more queen bees and build cells accordingly.